Hey John — Last weekend, I spent some time looking through old photos and reflecting on all that we’ve accomplished over the past few years. If you have a few moments today, I’d love to share my thoughts with you and tell you a little bit more about why I ran for Congress.

When I was just eight years old, I was diagnosed with a heart condition. Growing up, the care that I received inspired me to work in health care. So when I left for college, I knew I wanted to study nursing.

One of my first classes at the University of Michigan was nursing policy — and until I sat down on my first day of that class, I had never realized I could combine the two things I felt most passionate about, health care and policy, into a career.

After I graduated, I began my career as a registered nurse and fought to expand access to affordable health care for folks across our country. A few years later, I joined President Obama’s Administration with the Department of Health and Human Services to help implement the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that millions of Americans, including folks like me with pre-existing conditions, could receive access to high-quality care — some for the first time ever.

But in 2017, things took a turn. The Republican House majority was gearing up to repeal the ACA and the protections we fought so hard for. I decided to go to our former Congressman’s only town hall of that year and hear him out.

So here I am, this nurse who worked to expand affordable health care, who has a pre-existing condition of her own, and when our former Congressman said he’d ensure protections were still in place for folks like me, I believed him. But just two weeks later, he voted for an ACA repeal bill in Washington that was anything but that — promising to make health care less accessible and more expensive for millions of Americans.

I knew right then and there that I had to do something. So, I made a decision to run for Congress and fight to make sure our working families get the health care they need. Folks like you supported me because you believed in that fight, too — and in 2018, we made history.

Since then, I’ve been fighting my heart out for the people of Illinois, and we’ve made some incredible progress. I’ve had ten pieces of legislation enacted into law — including my Health Care Affordability Act, which is saving families an average of $2,400 per year. Today, more Americans have health care coverage than ever before.

We have a lot to be proud of, but John, I’m only just getting started. We still have a lot of work to do to make life better for Illinois’ working families, but I know this team can accomplish anything when we work together.

So today, I’m humbly asking you to pitch in to my campaign for Congress to keep this work going. I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and keep fighting for progress, and I’ll need you with me every step of the way.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this message and support our campaign — it means the world to me. Together, I know we can continue to make the progress our working families are counting on.

Warmly,

Lauren